Revivals bring renewal, growth to Gulf Coast church
By Barbara Denman

MARY ESTHER (FBC)—Jennifer Martinez of Navarre Beach discreetly wiped a tear from her eye as her husband Adam told of being among 27 new believers to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. The new Christians were baptized at First Baptist Church of Mary Esther following a week-long Spring revival.

And as a new Christian, Adam Martinez turned in his drug paraphernalia to a church deacon. “I’m just overwhelmed at how God can change people and their ways,” said Adam Martinez, 32. “Every night we have quiet time and read our Bibles. Our new faith has kept us together. Now I have a future with my wife and children.”

Revivals are an integral part of the ministry at First Church Mary Esther, said Pastor Joe Plott. He designs the evangelistic efforts to play a dual role of calling believers to repentance and the unbeliever to new life through Christ.

“I believe that revival comes to a church when Christians get right,” said Plott. “Second Chronicles 7:14 says that ‘if my people who are called by their name shall humble themselves and pray,’ then He says ‘I’ll forgive your sin and heal your land.’ So that is what we try to do here. We try to present the gospel to the people and minister to them on how to live their daily lives.”

Renewal was apparent during the first two nights of the Spring meeting, Plott said, when church members filled the front of the altar praying. “Revival comes when God’s people get right with the Lord and are released from bondage and stagnation. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday night lost folks began to come and others were saved.”

Plott knows well the power of revivals. In 2003, 152 new Christians made professions of faith during a revival. Sixty of those were church members. “Some people asked, ‘aren’t you ashamed?’ I said ‘not at all. Today they are going to heaven. Yesterday they were going to hell.’”

Located just west of Fort Walton Beach on Highway 98, the community of Mary Esther is a traditional military town, influenced by Eglin Air Force Base. The emerald Gulf of Mexico waters lure the recreationally obsessed community away from Sunday worship.

Yet more than 700 persons attend the church’s two Sunday morning worship services, with the largest crowd gathering at 8 a.m. Church members with a casual dress and attitude gather early to swap hugs and news, reflecting the community’s laidback manner.

Plott, an Air Force retiree with a homespun persona and an overwhelming smile, works hard to create an intentionally evangelistic atmosphere within the church. Sermons are based on repentance and salvation. A clear invitation is given and righteous living is exhorted. Weekly evangelistic ministry teams regularly canvass the neighborhoods in this beach town.

A prayer ministry focuses on the spiritually lost among family, friends and co-workers. In fact, “The mother of Angel Martinez never stopped praying for his salvation,” Plott reported.

The “old war horse,” as he is affectionately referred to as by some of his deacons, Plott, 67, is not ready for retirement even after 22 years as pastor of the Panhandle church. “Slow down?” he asked, “This is my golf game. This is my baseball. This is what I do. The things of God give me immense pleasure.”

The church’s revival preparation mirrored the pastor’s commitment, said David Burton, Florida Baptist director of evangelism, who led this year’s revival at the church. “It had to be one of my top 10 revivals in my ministry. They did it all right from months of preparation. When a church prepares right and expect God to move, revivals work.”

Plott is perplexed that many congregations think revivals are no longer effective in today’s culture. Revivals and vacation Bible schools are the two “key elements of salvation and winning people to Jesus. They are the two most productive things we could do in a church year.”

He continued, “It’s just a matter of do you want it or don’t you. Is it a passion on your heart? Do you feel that people need to be saved? Do you have a passion for your community?”

In 2005, a portion of the Maguire State Mission Offering will provide financial resources to help Florida Baptist churches enhance evangelism and discipleship ministries through the “Consumed with Hope” evangelism emphasis.

“Consumed with Hope” is the soul-winning strategy of the Convention’s Evangelism Division that includes multi-language resources to help prepare for, conduct and follow-up intentionally evangelistic events and revivals.

Funding provided by the state offering will underwrite a portion of the cost to enlist and involve Florida Baptists in intense evangelism efforts associated with the strategy. The money also will help churches target strategic locations with evangelistic “Consumed With Hope” events and rallies.

Don McCutcheon, director of the Convention’s evangelism strategy department said nearly 80 percent of Florida Baptist churches with high baptism statistics conduct at least one soul-winning event annually.

This type of financial assistance will open the door for more churches to “get actively involved in reaching people for the Lord,” said Plott. “The most important mission a church has is to win people to Christ. Disciple them, certainly, but we must win them first.”

More about the Maguire State Mission Offering 2005 Campaign